Elizabeth Rhoades (b. 1955) is an American Impressionist landscape painter. Her work is characterized by vibrant color and sensitivity to the natural forms and light in the landscape. Her keen observation and thorough knowledge of the landscape is evident in her award-winning paintings. There is an emotional quality to her work that brings peace and tranquility to the viewer, while at the same time having a distinct vitality through her use of color. Her preference is in painting nature, undisturbed by human intervention.

Elizabeth began her painting career in 1973 as a watercolorist. At age 17 she took classes at Paier College of Art, and studied under the famed Leo Stoutsenburger. She spent many years painting the Connecticut landscape en plein air with watercolors. In 2001 she switched to pastels, and her work garnered much recognition in national pastel societies across the country. At the beginning of the Covid pandemic in 2020 she took up oils. A lifetime of plein air painting has provided her with a foundation to accurately depict the elements of the landscape. Elizabeth is a Signature Member of Pastel Society of America, Connecticut Pastel Society, Pastel Society of the West Coast, Pastel Society of New Mexico, Degas Pastel Society, and an Elected Artist in the Rockport Art Association, Lyme Art Association, North Shore Arts Association, Academic Artists, American Artists Professional League, and Audubon Artists. She is a juried Artist Member in the Salmagundi Club in New York, the National Oil and Acrylic Painter’s Society, Oil Painters of America, and the American Impressionist Society.

She was a Featured Artist in the Oct/Nov 2016 edition of PleinAir Magazine, and her work has been published in many group articles in Fine Art Connoisseur and PleinAir Magazine. Elizabeth’s work has been juried into well over a hundred highly competitive National Exhibitions and Plein Air Competitions. Of the over fifty awards she has won, Elizabeth’s recent awards include the Alden Bryan Memorial Award for Best Landscape in the American Artist’s Professional League Grand National Exhibition in 2023, the Award of Excellence in NOAPS Best of America Small Painting Exhibit, the Walker Memorial Award for Oil Landscape as well as Best Pastel in Academic Artists, Best in Show at North Shore Art Association, multiple awards from Salmagundi Club, Second Place, Finger Lakes Plein Air Festival, and the Gold Medal of Honor Plus for a Pastel in the American Artists Professional League. Her work is included in corporate and private collections from coast to coast.

Elizabeth was born and raised in New Haven, Connecticut. She taught public school elementary art for 35 years in various Connecticut towns until her retirement in 2014. In 2018 she moved permanently to Virginia’s Eastern Shore, where her love of the water and rural landscape provides her unlimited inspiration.